Stocking Stuffer: Mimobots Designer USB Drives

By K. T. Bradford | Dec 18, 2010 02:16 PM EDT

A USB drive may not seem like an exciting gift, but it’s definitely a useful one. Everyone can use a bit of backup, a place to keep important files, or a little assurance against failures of Cloud services. To make the gift of storage more fun, go for a designer model that matches the personality of the giftee.

One of my favorite companies is Mimobots, the makers of well-designed flash drives. Not only do they have designs you’d expect to see — such as Hello Kitty, which is everywhere, and Star Wars, which is bound to appeal to the geeky — but several that go beyond the usual crowd pleasers. My current favorites (pictured at right) are Mictlantecuhtli and GiddyUp by artists Julio E. Carrillo and Hila Rosenberg Arazi (respectively). Mimobots holds occasional community-driven contests to pick new artists and new designs. Thus far they’ve built up quite a sizable pool of talent.

I really like that the designs are so well thought out. They wrap around the front and back, and some reveal surprises when users remove the cap (such as the Star Wars Luke and Han Storm Trooper models).

Mimobots are a bit expensive for the amount of storage they offer. 2GB drives start out around $24 and 16GB drives cost 79.45. (You can also get 4 and 8GB) Yes, you’re paying for the look as much as the actual memory, but that’s why they make a perfect gift.

Head over to the Mimobots site to pick the perfect flash drive (or see if a store near you sells them) so you can get them by Christmas.